I found myself in a middle of a discussion today with a pregnant woman who told me she has an examination to write tomorrow morning and she told me she sleeps too much this days and I advised her to take Nescafe or cola nut for her to be able to read. It was then she enlightened me that anything that contain caffeine is not good for her to take especially during the pregnancy. Here, we shall discuss about caffeine and its effects on human especially on pregnant women.
CCO, creative common-caffeine seed
Caffeine belongs to the class of methylxanthine and it is referred to as a stimulant of central nervous system. It is a psychoactive drug that is mostly consumed worldwide. Although it is a psychoactive drug but, in many part of the word it unregulated and legal to use. Effects of caffeine can be explained by different mechanism of action known. One of its actions is the prevention of drowsiness which is caused by adenosine.
This action happens when the action of adenosine on its receptor is reversibly blocked by caffeine. Also, portions of some certain autonomic nervous system are being stimulated by caffeine.
Caffeine is naturally found in many species of plant such as kola nuts, coffee beans, cocoa beans and tea leaves etc. guayusa, yerba mate, yaupon holly, and guarana berries are the other natural sources of caffeine. Caffeine is added to some medicines that are bought over-the-counter during production and some of this medicine includes diet-aids, analgesics and flu/cold medicines. Also, in many of the popular soft drinks, caffeine can be found.
CCO, creative common-Coffee -caffeine beverage
Amount of caffeine found in food and beverages differ from one another. For example, in beverages the amount of caffeine consumed is dependent on the concentration of the drink or rather the strength of the drink. About 65mg of caffeine is found in average sized cup of coffee and approximately 25-45mg of caffeine is found in a cup of tea or a can of cola. Less than 3mg of caffeine is found per cup in a decaffeinated coffee and smaller amount of caffeine can be found in chocolate and cocoa
Caffeine has many side effects on human body especially when its overdose is taken. The following are the side effects of caffeine overdose; hallucination, confusion and vomiting. Overdose of caffeine occur when too much of it is taken especially in diet pills and energy drink. From the result of a research, up to 400mg of caffeine is considered safe and anything above that is over dose.
By Mikael Häggström - Own work, CC0,
Apart from the aforementioned effects of caffeine on human, its effect on pregnant women cannot be overlooked. Below are the effects on pregnant women.
Effects of Caffeine on Pregnancy
Consumption of caffeine during pregnancy result to increase in heart beat rate and blood pressure. These two effects are not encouraged during pregnancy. Also, caffeine intake during pregnancy increases the rate at which pregnant woman urinates thereby leading to body fluid reduction and therefore causes body dehydration.
At the early stage of pregnancy, it is impossible for the baby to metabolize caffeine because at that stage the baby’s metabolic system is still in the process of maturation. Although the mother will be able to handle any amount of it in the body but normal movement pattern and sleep pattern of the baby will be affected by any amount of caffeine. Don’t forget, both the mother and the baby can be kept awake because of caffeine intake just because it is a stimulant.
Due to caffeine intake, women can experience birth defects, preterm delivery, fertility reduction, premature labor, low birth weight offspring, infertility, miscarriage and many other problems related to reproduction.
Conclusively, with all the effect of caffeine intake mentioned above it is well known that overdose of caffeine intake is detrimental to human health especially women. So it is advisable for women to avoid caffeine because it does more harm than good.
References
- https://www.wellandgood.com/good-food/how-different-caffeine-sources-affect-the-body/
- https://www.pregnancybirthbaby.org.au/caffeine-during-pregnancy
- http://americanpregnancy.org/pregnancy-health/caffeine-intake-during-pregnancy/
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caffeine
- https://www.coffeeandhealth.org/topic-overview/sources-of-caffeine/
A very good write up. Kudos to you @olatyinka. If too much of caffeine is taken by a pregnant woman at the early stage of d pregnancy it can cause immediate miscarriage. So it is not advisable for pregnant women to be taking any food that contains caffeine
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